Spa Valley Railway - Latest News

Many thanks Jonnie. But my full day there yesterday in the heat that the Met Office reported reached 30 C in that area, and despite all I did to try and keep in shade and with my car aircon at times, meant I got up this morning with some of the signs of heat exhaustion. Not up to the level of heat exhaustion that made me decide to end ascending Bavarian mountains in summer circa 20 years ago - although back then it was 32 C or a little more. But enough this morning to warn me to keep out of the sun today.

So it has been a quiet day at home for me, plenty to drink and fans blasting away as will my bedroom aircon when I take a short 'thinking break with my eyes shut' quite soon.

But very many thanks to you all at the Spa Valley for running the SR Mogul again this weekend. Very much appreciated.

With the enormous cost of lorry transport these days I imagine it will not be a loco that will often run again where SR Moguls once did in the 1960s.

So thanks again,

Bryan

 

With Eridge now being well “run in”, are there still plans to get a loop in down there? Particularly now the need for a swing bridge on the footpath entrance appears to have been resolved with the ramp in the platform?


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One day but when we've a bridge to replace at over £300,000 and other areas of the infrastructure to overhaul (we've just invested £70,000 in a failed culvert and embankment) it isn't our top priority.

The Eridge extension is not cheap, because of where it is is it has to be inspected by a mainline registered company. It's £30,000 a year just to do the necessary patrolling and inspections which doesn't include any remedial work. If we have to do anything like this it has to be done by a mainline registered contractor.

Last year the longitudinal timbers were replaced on the main set of points just outside Eridge which cost us over £22,000.

In reality, any installation of a loop at Eridge is probably going to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds because of where it is.

It would be nice though and we would make a saving on our operating costs in the longterm but we don't have the cash there to do just do something like this. Whilst in the accounting world we could offset it overtime the reality is the invoice would still need paying on the due date.

We still have a failed embankment to address at Tunbridge Wells West and the recent repairs at Cold Bath on 30ft worth of embankment and a culvert were £70,000.

 

Agreed it would be great to have a run-round at Eridge, but the priorities have to be as you say Jonnie. Meaning that you keep the line from TWW to Eridge open and in a decent state before improving the operations at the far end.

That £30,000 a year is a bit of a weight around your neck, I wasn't aware of that.

Bryan

 

The costs of a heritage railways operation aren't always that well publicised. Perhaps I'm too open sometimes but I don't see what we gain by not explaining these things. If I just said it's too expensive then everyone would ask questions!

 

Personally I appreciate you being so honest and open about these matters, as it really shows the eye-watering expenses most heritage railways have to deal with, yet many don't appreciate these issues.

I am curious though, with the expenses that Eridge section incur, does operating services there sufficiently make up for it?

Or in other words, is it actually more a burden running the Eridge extension then it's worth?

I'd like to think it is, even though I know people debate back and forth on the benefits for heritage railways being linked to the national network.

 

It isn't worth it on a regular basis for the mainline connection. That comes into its own during special events such as the Beer Festival but on a normal day it's seldom used. That is why we changed our standard timetable to do away with connections, too few people were using it and keeping it made the day longer and impacted on when we did our dining experiences.

The last train used to be 16:15 and get back at 17:35. It used to run with around 20-30 people on it. The last train now is at 15:30 and it's regularly carrying 70+ for dining and another 30 to 40 standard travel passengers.

What the extra 2 miles does bring though is the longer journey and 25 -30 minutes one way vs 15 minutes makes all the difference on visitor numbers. So whilst it does cost £30,000 to use, the valve is in the journey we offer not the mainline connection.

It is still easier if you want to visit the Spa Valley to go to the mainline Tunbridge Wells station and walk 10 minutes to our one. The Southeastern service to/from London and Hastings is a lot better than the Southern over an hour from Eridge. The first and last trains are also much earlier and later from Tunbridge Wells mainline.